BUENOS AIRES, March 25. /TASS/. US and UK authorities find it beneficial to push the narrative that the Islamic State (IS or ISIS, outlawed in Russia) terrorist group was responsible for the deadly terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall music venue in suburban Moscow because they seek to drag Russia into an armed conflict in Afghanistan, Argentinian political scientist Daniel Kersfield said.
He opined that there are "multiple interests" behind the almost immediate identification of ISIS as the organizer of the terrorist attack. "It is no coincidence that the main NATO members are now trying to convince Russia to open a new front in the difficult region of Central Asia, less than a week after [Vladimir] Putin's re-election to a new presidential term with the broadest support, at a time when Ukraine is heading for defeat, when Russia has managed to maintain economic growth in the midst of armed conflict and under numerous sanctions and embargos," he wrote in an article in the Pagina 12 newspaper.
According to Kersfield, London and Washington are counting on "forcing Moscow to invade Afghanistan" because they want Russia to play the role of a destabilizing factor in a region where China's influence is growing. "An armed Russian invasion of Afghanistan, where the situation remains tense, could provoke destabilization, which in the long term would also affect those countries where ISIS-Khorasan affiliates are located, such as Iran and, above all, Turkey. At the same time, it could contribute to the development of radical Islamism in other Muslim-majority countries, including in the post-Soviet space," the political scientist said.
On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region, just over the Moscow city limits. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the current death toll is 137, but may rise. The Moscow Region Health Ministry said that 182 people were injured. Eleven individuals suspected of being involved in the terrorist attack have been apprehended, including four gunmen who were apprehended in the southern Bryansk Region as they attempted to seek refuge by crossing the nearby Ukrainian border. President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that, according to preliminary information, the Ukrainian side had prepared "a gap" in the border especially for the terrorists to cross. He promised to identify and punish all those who were behind the attack on Crocus City Hall and declared March 24 a day of national mourning for the victims.